Edward Witten | Biography

Often compared to Albert Einstein for the originality of his work, Edward Witten is a mathematical physicist whose primary field of research is string theory (introduced by physicist Gabriele Veneziano in 1968). His efforts to develop string theory into a unified "theory of everything" that would explain the fundamental workings of the universe have been among the most successful so far. Many scientists agree that Witten is leading the revival of the traditional symbiosis between mathematics and physics, which had become two virtually separate fields by the 1950s. However, he has many critics among physicists who believe that Witten's extensive use of mathematics in a traditional arena of physics is inappropriate.

Witten, born on August 26, 1951 in Baltimore, Maryland, is the son of a gravitational physicist and emeritus professor at the University of Cincinnati. As a preschooler, Witten reportedly enjoyed discussing physics with his father. He received his early education at Baltimore's Hebrew Park School, going on to earn a bachelor's degree in history from Brandeis University in 1971.

After graduating, Witten wrote for such publications as the Nation and the New Republic, also serving as an aide during George McGovern's 1972 run for president. Meanwhile, Witten thought about continuing his studies in graduate school, having decided that he lacked the right personality for a career in politics or journalism. He chose instead to study physics at Princeton University in New Jersey, where he completed a master's degree in 1974 and a doctorate in 1976.

After working as a junior fellow at Harvard University from 1977 to 1980, Witten returned to Princeton with an appointment as a full professor of physics at the unusually young age of 29. His research immediately centered on finding a simple, concise set of rules and equations that would finally explain the nature of all energy and matter in the universe. Just as the ancient Greeks once looked for the answer in the "elements" of earth, air, fire, and water, so modern scientists have looked to the atom for clues to the smallest components of matter.

At first, Witten dedicated much of his time at Princeton to quantum theory, winning a 1982 MacArthur Fellowship for his work. Yet although he soon gained a reputation as the world's most promising young physicist, he realized that his efforts to solve "the single biggest puzzle in physics-reconciling general relativity's gravity and space with quantum mechanics' nuclear-level events--were leading nowhere.

In 1984 Witten and another physicist published a paper about anomalies that occur during radioactive decay that could only be studied in terms of topology and only in 10 dimensions. Witten's hypothesis fit perfectly with a 1982 article by two other physicists that had suggested that string theory required the presence of a mind-bending 10 dimensions to explain the four known natural forces without any anomalies. They called their hypothesis "superstring theory." Suddenly, with this unlikely coincidence, physicists around the world became hopeful that science was on the verge of discovering what physicists have called the Grand Unified Theory, or the theory of everything.

String theory is the idea that instead of the different spherical particles (such as electrons, quarks, and photons) that modern physicists have agreed make up atomic structure, these particles are actually identical strands of one-dimensional string. The strings do not differ based on size, but rather according to the way they rotate and vibrate. Superstring theory is the same, but with addition of many more dimensions.

Witten has said that researching string theory is perfect for his abilities, since he believes it will "require a lot of new mathematics" and that "applying bizarre mathematics to physics is what [he's] good at." In 1985, he published 19 papers on string theory, also winning the Einstein Award, among others. That year he cowrote Current Algebra and Anomalies. In 1986, in addition to his teaching responsibilities, Witten collaborated with an astrophysicist to find out why galaxies tend to gather together at the perimeters of large voids. The result was their new theory of "cosmic strings," which they believe developed during the cooling process after the Big Bang that formed universe.

Witten, whom his students affectionately nicknamed "the Martian" because of his brilliance and soft voice, gave up his teaching duties in 1987 to concentrate on his research. Leaving the university's Physics Department, he transferred to the School of Natural Sciences at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study (IAS). That same year, he published Superstring Theory. In 1989, Witten began concentrating on knot theory, a branch of topology, to look for further insights into string theory. The following year he won the Fields Medal, which is widely considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for mathematics. Witten is the first physicist ever to win the coveted award.

Witten had a major breakthrough in his string theory research in 1994, announcing that he and a colleague at Rutgers University had found a way to simplify the incredibly complex mathematics of quarks by assuming the existence of a particular kind of supersymmetry. Although physicists have not yet confirmed the existence of supersymmetry, Witten is confident that mathematics will eventually prove him correct. In the meantime, Witten and other physicists began lobbying Washington in 1993 to restore funding to a superconducting supercollider and other such facilities that they believe could soon lead to proof of supersymmetry.

Aside from his scientific interests, Witten also visits Israel frequently to help promote peace between Middle Eastern Jews and Arabs. He is married to a fellow IAS physicist and they have two daughters. His wife reports that Witten does calculations only in his head.

Recent Updates

October 22, 2003: Witten received a 2002 National Medal of Science for his ongoing efforts in the area of string theory, an effort by physicists to describe the forces of nature in a unified way. Source: The National Science Foundation, www.nsf.gov, October 22, 2003.

November 6, 2003: Witten was awarded a 2002 National Medal of Science by United States President George W. Bush "for his leadership in a broad range of topics in mathematics and theoretical physics, including attempts to understand the fundamental forces of nature through string theory, and his inspired use of insights from physics to unify apparently disparate areas of mathematics." Source: Presidential Medal of Science, www.nsf.gov/nsb/awards/nms/medal.htm, March 8, 2004.

April 26, 2004: Witten was selected by the editors of Time magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people. Source: Time, www.time.com/time, May 11, 2004.